A Sort of Fairytale
by Vashti
Summary: It will take her a while, but she'll eventually learn to live life on her own terms. (AU)


**Title:** A Sort of Fairytale  
**Author:** Vashti  
**Fandom:** X-Men (AU world of the Metamorphosis RPG)  
**Character(s):** alt!Kitty  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary:** It will take her a while, but she'll eventually learn to live life on her own terms.  
**Length:** 2,769 words  
**Disclaimer:** I don't know you. You don't know me. Let's keep it that way.  
**Dedication:** Jaguar of Metamorphosis for creating the world this Kitty inhabits.  
**Authors Notes:** Written in response to the iPod shuffle meme found on LJ: _1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like. 2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards! 4. Do ten of these, then post them._ I cheated a bit. I did 16 stories and some of them went over the time frame. Stories that went on to long, so to speak, have a (+) notation.  
**AN2:** These stories are all interconnected. They are not, however, written in chronological order. If you would like to read them in chronological order, please note the number in parenthesis at the end of each title, or read them in this order: 10, 2, 3, 5, 4, 11, 8, 1, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 14, 12, 16

* * *

A Sort of Fairytale  
by Vashti

1. The First Time – Family Force Five (8)

"Hey."

Kitty glanced over her shoulder. Recognizing the stranger, she turned on her barstool, leaning back on her elbows. "Hey there."

"I'm Benjamin." He offered her a large, meaty hand. A footballer's hand, if she remembered right. "I'm one of—"

"Cornell's friends," she said finishing her sentence. "Yeah, I remember you now. Sorta. Childhood friend?"

"High school."

She nodded. Looked down at their joined hands.

He flushed and dropped them. "He's a real jerk, you know."

* * *

2. Stand up for Jesus (2)

Anne ducked her head, trying to get through campus as quickly as possible. It was Culture Club Day and while it should eventually be an interesting mix of 80s music and multicultural events (she was looking forward to the dragon dancing later), the Christian groups had beaten everyone to the punch and were already blaring their music. It had taken Anne a long moment to figure out who the music belonged to, but now they were playing something truly cheesy.

* * *

3. I Just Want You – Vickie Yohe (3)

"Hey! Hey, Anne!"

Oh no! One of them knew her name? Dreading having to politely tell one of her classmates that they were delusional idiots, and not really sure she knew how or, worse, standing there and nodding as they spewed their vitriol, Anne slowly turned.

A lanky girl with limp blond hair wearing jeans, beat-up sneakers and a tee caught up to her. Anne blinked. "Sophie?"

"Anne! I'm so glad I ran into you. When's that paper for Tonsion due? This Tues or next?"

Feeling giddy, she said, "Not even. He gave us an extension for a week after next."

"Great!"

"Yeah. Wow. At first I thought you were one of those Jesus people trying to hunt me down and convert me."

Sophie grinned. "I _am_. But I won't try to convert you."

* * *

4. Casta Diva (from "Norma") – Bridges of Madison County score (5)

Jonathan had issues. Either he had a secret kiddie fetish—which her mother had always sworn most men did—or he liked _Pretty Woman_ too much, or he liked screwing with people's heads. Any of those three could be problematic.

But he was good in bed, he knew how to pick a _great_ hotel room with a jaw-dropping view, and he had a fantastic music collection on his iPod.

Carmen curled up in the corner of the immense leather armchair, stereo remote dangling precariously from her fingertips, as the room re-taught her what it meant to feel.

* * *

5. Wait for You – Nelly Furtado (4)

Bags pulling at her arms, people moving around her like eddies around junk in a stream, Carmen pushed down rising panic. He was just running late. It happened. And he wasn't exactly great at communicating. It had been over five years since a jerk named Robert had walked out of a stupid girl named Anne's life without a word or a note. It shouldn't still cause all this.

And even if she had been abandoned, Carmen had more resources than Anne ever had. She'd figure something out. She could do this. She didn't need this guy. She didn't need him.

So what did she need?

* * *

6. Here With Me – Dido (+) (9)

Her hand hung suspended in the space over Ben's sleep-mussed hair. She wanted to touch it, to play with it, now before he got up for the day and tamed it with gel. It stuck up like porcupine quills but was as soft as dandelion fluff. But right now it was too freaking short. Too short to grip, too short to play with without waking him, too short and reminding her of his friend, Cornell, the guy Kitty had come out to Connecticut for in the first place, in a humongous step backwards.

Which always made her frown, because Ben had been right about Cornell being a jerk, and because thinking of Cornell made her restless. She was ready to be restive. She was ready to stay right here.

* * *

7. Clocks – Coldplay (10)

"Late again, Katherine."

"It's 'Kitty,'" she muttered, sliding past her coworker. Who was not her supervisor, not matter what he thought.

She would have been back from lunch on time, she'd been _trying_ to get back on time—had even avoided Claire and everyone else down in the cafeteria—but she'd run into someone who knew Anne (even though he didn't know he knew Anne), and the world had just…stopped.

What was _nuts_, totally nuts, was that _he_ had recognized _her_, eating a dirty dog with nearly everything on it by the park, and had come over to her. Luckily he'd never known her name so introducing herself as "Katherine, but everyone calls me Kitty" had been no trouble at all.

* * *

8. Healed Without Scars – David G. Evans (7)

It wasn't much of an apartment. She literally had to walk over her bed to get to the bathroom or out of the room. And there were better parts of New York that she could probably afford if she dipped into her special fund, but it was the first place that she could say was _hers_. It wasn't a pit stop between "better" situations. It wasn't funded, subsidized or even found by the man-of-the-moment. It had closets and the closets had clothes. She had luggage, not much, and they were totally empty. Her pantry had perishables.

She was home.

* * *

9. El Tango de Roxanne – Moulin Rouge Soundtrack (11)

How she was supposed to keep screwing a man she hated, Kitty didn't know. But she'd already broken all her "rules" for Cheval: He was married, she was in love, he'd helped her get a better job.

But now she knew the truth. Now she hated him. Hated herself for loving him. For throwing away precious freedom for his seduction.

He'd made good on that promise from years ago. She was bought and paid for. Her and a hundred others.

Kitty looked at the spreadsheets again. If he'd known what she could do… Would he have kidnapped her from her bed? Or would she have gone willingly to his highest bidder?

* * *

10. Baby Girl – Nicole C. Mullins (+) (1)

"Look at what she does, Theresa."

Theresa looked up from the bills at the sound of her mother's voice. She laughed.

There on her brawny father's lap was her little Anne…putting barrettes in her grandfather's hair. Samuel Schauer looked up at the sound of his daughter laughing, something of a scowl crossing his face as he realized that his wife and daughter were watching.

"So cute!" Elizabeth Schauer exclaimed.

"I should get the camera."

"Reese," Samuel growled.

"_Grand_-pa."

The scowl disappeared as he turned back to Anne.

Elizabeth sat next to her daughter at the kitchen table. "Our Anne, she is a Daddy's Girl." She said the last part carefully. "You see it when she is with Sam, yes?"

"Yes, Mama. She's grandpa's little girl."

"Yes, Reese. It is true. She loves her grandfather very much. And Samuel, he loves his Anne very much, too. But it is not enough. Not for our Anna. When our Anna loves, she loves completely, intensely. Even for such a little girl."

Theresa sighed. "Mama, I already know—"

Elizabeth Schauer stopped her daughter with a hand on her wrist. "this you know, yes. But what it means for our little Anna…" She dropped her voice. "I don't think you know this. Carmen…he is bastard. It isn't word I like to use, but is true."

"Mama, I _know_. Only Shannon Pryde knows that as well as I do," she muttered.

Elizabeth patted her daughter's wrist. "I know, I know. But _she_ doesn't know. _Anne_ doesn't know that her father is bastard. She only knows that her father is _not here_."

"But Mama, _you_ said that I should have nothing to do with Carmen after everything came out."

"Yes, yes, I said this."

"And Anne has Dad. You and Dad aren't so old. You're not exactly using walkers and canes. You both still work every day."

"So the point?"

Theresa tried not to roll her eyes. "so Dad is a good male role model for Anna. Dad's a good _man_."

"Yes. My Sam is a good man. But Samuel is Anna's _grand_father. Is not enough."

"Mama—"

"Listen to me, Theresa. Having grandfather around is lovely, great thing for little Anna, for you, for us. But relationship with grandfather _not the same as relationship with father_." Elizabeth grabbed her daughter's wrist. "You do not believe, but is true. Is true! And maybe if our little Anna was different kind of person, or maybe if were raising Anne just your father and I, it would be different. But there is place in Anna's heart for _father_ that grandfather does not fill. Is place that she will try to fill if there is no father to do it."

Theresa stared at her mother. "What are you saying, Mama? I should run off and get married. For Anne's sake?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, no. You should make bastard Carmen have relationship with daughter."

"Mama! If I should cut ties with Carmen then why should I encourage something between Carmen and Anne?!"

"Everything all right in there?"

Both women looked up. Anne, still sitting in her grandfather's lap, seemed oblivious as she undid her handiwork, but Samuel Schauer was staring them down.

Elizabeth stood, drawing Theresa with her. "All right, Samuel. Everything all right." She looked at Theresa. "Come. Outside."

"Mama, I don't want—"

"Outside. Now." So they went. They stood just beyond the French doors in the nearly chilly Autumn afternoon. "I know what I told you about you and Carmen, Theresa. Is still good. He lied. Said he was free man. _Pretend_ to marry you, while really married to nice girl and already having children. Put house and debt in your name. This man, not worth your time. Not worth my Reese's tears. But—eh eh!" She raised her hands to forestall protest. "But he is also Anne's father. And Anne does not _know_ how awful father is."

"Then, Mama, why should she find out? If he's not worth my tears then he certainly isn't worth Anna's."

"Yes, yes is true. But _Anne_ must know—"

"Don't worry. I'll tell her."

"Theresa, she must experience for herself. Or she will always wonder. She will always look for him. In men, in things, in people. Always wanting what should be hers."

"But if he hurts her—"

"Then she will know what her father is like and she will not want him. And Sam is here, to show how it is to be a good man who loves a good woman."

"Mama, didn't you just say that wasn't enough?" Theresa threw her hands up, exasperated.

"Without Carmen to be father? Is not enough. Samuel is not _trying_ to be father. He is happy to be grandfather. And Carmen could be good father."

Theresa snorted. "Unlikely."

"True. But possible. Anything possible."

Tucking her hands under her armpits, Theresa looked at everything but her mother, though she could feel her eyes on her.

"You must do this thing, Reese. Even if it means Anne cries now. Better now than later."

"Better never, Mama."

"If only," Elizabeth agreed mournfully. "If only. But there is place inside Anna for father only. And like craving for food she will try everything to end craving until she finds what she really wants."

Theresa's eyes finally landed on her mother's face. "I'll think about it."

* * *

11. Fa-Fa-Fa – Datarock (6)

Jonathan watched Carmen work the crowd as he got their drinks. He'd met her in a chat room, true, but they'd been regular cyber-buddies for years. Off and on of course. And for so long that he had been expecting her to either be young than was safe, or older than he usually liked.

He had no idea how old she was. Stepping off the plane she'd seemed like a kid. Dressed in a Chinese-inspired silk dress, she handled his business associates like a pro. And she was better in bed than she was online.

It was a good thing this was only going to be a couple of days. He might fall in love. Or worse—discover that she was indispensible.

* * *

12. Precious – Annie Lennox (+) (15)

Kitty looked down at the child in her arms. Not her own. Never her own. She'd seen to that ages ago. Which was probably why she liked other people's kids so much.

He had his mother's block hair and near-black eyes. Even all bundled in a blue snowsuit, she could see the resemblances in the shape of his mouth and nose. He watched kitty intently as his mother worked to close down his carriage. She watched him back. Studied him. Loved him for as long as she was able.

At least none of the other Acolytes had kids. Not little ones at least. Then she'd be really stuck.

* * *

13. Bring Me Some Water – Melissa Etheridge & Joan Osborne (12)

She couldn't do her fellow Brother's trick, the skin-removing one, despite the similarities of their powers. Skin's just too…light. Her favorite trick is, and always has been, pulling the heart out.

And it is a trick. Because the moment she puts the heart out of phase with the rest of the body the person's dead. They live long enough to watch their heart beating in her hand, though, and that's become immensely pleasing.

So why can't she do it? Robert's right here, the only person who knows both Anne and Kitty. The only person who's pulled the trick on her and left her standing. Mostly.

* * *

14. Come Together – Michael Jackson (14)

"Over here, Shadow."

Kitty went to stand by Magneto's side. Their back was to the windows and the amazing view.

"See what I have done for you. I keep my promises to my Acolytes. Unlike the flats cans."

On the widescreen television is the news. On the news is a top-breaking story: Douglas Cheval, prominent Wall Street businessman, husband and father, had been busted on not just the embezzlement he was originally being investigated for, but on a child-slavery ring he oversaw—a child slavery ring specializing in mutant children. A success on so many levels.

"Thank you, Magnus."

Her triumph, their triumph, was sour on her tongue.

She still loved him.

* * *

15. I Don't Need No Doctor – John Scofield & John Mayer (13)

Kitty looked down at the note and wondered what Anne would do, then promptly discarded the thought. Anne hadn't been a good role model for anyone.

Carmen then. She'd finally stopped making the rounds as the short-lived Carmen Pryde. Gotten a real job and apartment and everything.

So what would Carmen do?"

Accept Magneto's invitation to be his date to the Hellfire Club function, certainly. Play arm candy or witty companion or whatever it was he was looking for. Seriously consider whether the night was going to end in Magneto's bed, and if she could handle that.

Kitty frowned. She wasn't sure she could anymore.

Okay. Then what would _Kitty_ do?

* * *

16. Let's Give Them Something To Talk About – Bonnie Raitt (+) (16)

Walking down the street at a smart New York clip, Kitty gave herself a generous 24 hours before anyone would be able to come after her. She'd been very careful to phase through just about every electronic device she could think of, and she could think of lots: Doors, computers, vehicular electronics, training rooms. The works. She'd damaged or destroyed everything except the servers and backups. She wanted to get out of the Brotherhood, not be hunted like one of Magneto's "flat scans."

So she was off to her hair appointment to try her hand at being a short-haired platinum blond. Then upstate. She didn't know if Xavier would welcome her with open arms, but she thought he'd protect her from his friend. And while she was waiting for her hair to take to its new color, she would figure out just which secrets she would divulge to make the welcome warmer and which ones she would wear close to her chest.

And she would try out being Samantha. Samantha Schauer. Sam.

_in_Fin_ite_


End file.
